This invention relates to an improved baseball base construction and more particularly to the mounting and anchoring of a base used for baseball, softball or other ball games.
In playing these games it is very important to avoid injury to the players when they are "sliding into the base."
The yieldable bases are designed to accept a limited lateral movement to minimize physical damage to players.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,244,044 describes a baseball base having an anchor with a socket in which a pin or stem, attached to the base, is carried. The base is provided with a plate secured upon the bottom thereof having a downwardly projecting lug to which a coil spring is secured. The spring permits limited lateral movement of the base when the base is violently struck or pressed by a player.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,947,540 relates to anchoring means to secure a base sack in position. The sack is tied by straps which are affixed to the side walls of the sack and extend about loops projecting upwardly from top plate. The plate is tensioned for limited sliding movement by means of a plurality of radially arranged contractive springs connecting the plate with the frame.
The anchoring means permit the movement of the sack in any direction through the plane of the base and retain the sack at the proper location. The sack has limited movement with the impact of player thereagainst.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,204,958 (Velasquez) discloses removable mounting and yieldable anchoring of a baseball base at the three field positions.
The anchor assembly has a socket member which receives a vertically elongated stem of a removable support assembly. The stem supports the pad assembly in a space adjacently above the surface of the ground. A bearing plate is secured as by welding to the upper end of the stem and a spring anchor flange which extends from two sides of the stem and anchors two pairs of springs to the mounting assembly. The latter is slidably movable relative to the bearing plate in two perpendicular directions defined by the intersecting parallel grooves. The pad assembly is displaceable in two perpendicular directions from the central position to which it is biased by the springs.
Accordingly, a runner approaching a base from either of two directions will cause displacement of the base upon impact against the bias of the springs after which the pad assembly returns to its original position. The two directions in which the assembly is displaceable will depend upon the angular orientation of the supporting assembly.
Although the prior art base construction described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,204,958 significantly reduces any likelihood of injury to the players, it has a number of technical and economical disadvantages; it is rather complicated and expensive to manufacture.